Men's Basketball

In this photo shot with a slow shutter speed, players run a drill during practice at the last year’s Big 12 Conference men’s tournament, March 8, 2011, at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

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The Phillips 66 Big 12 men’s basketball championship will be held in Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., this week as well as in March of 2013 and ‘14.

But after that?

It remains to be seen if/when the popular tournament will return to the Missouri arena now that the University of Missouri has defected to the SEC, leaving no Big 12 member institutions from that state.

“To me the fact the arena is located across the river or whatever is irrelevant,” said KU coach Bill Self, who is all for the tourney staying in Sprint Center. “It’s in the state of Missouri, but it’s still Kansas City.

“Kansas City is split. I still think Kansas City is more of a K-State, KU town than it is a Missouri town, at least the way we see it. If you are going to poll the people that are living in the 30-mile radius, I’d think you would have far more K-State and Kansas people than you would Missouri people.

“It’s who puts on the best show,” Self added of the city to ultimately be awarded the Big 12 tourney. “Obviously Kansas City has done such a great job historically. I can’t see it taking a step backward at all from an interest standpoint and attendance standpoint, I don’t,” he added.

“I think it would give the appearance it (MU leaving) would hurt it, but I can’t see that happening. This will be a situation moving forward I think there will be as much interest in the conference tournament as there ever has been.”

The vote: Self revealed on Monday that he voted for Missouri’s Frank Haith for Big 12 Coach of the Year. Self and Iowa State’s Fred Hoiberg were named co-conference Coach of the Year Sunday in voting of their peers. On Monday, the media named Haith the Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year.

“That’s perfect,” Self said of Haith being recognized by the AP media panel. “In all honesty, I voted for him. He deserved it. Fred has done a remarkable job, and he definitely deserves it. Everybody gets a piece of it. That is a tribute to the coaches and the programs in the league. The only way you can ever win Coach of the Year is if your team does well. We had three teams in this league far surpass what their expectations were. You could make a case for a lot of different guys.”

Foot is fine: KU junior Travis Releford, who has not worn a protective boot on his left foot for several weeks now, said his foot is healed. He had the early stages of a stress reaction back in January.

“My foot is good. I have no problem with it at all,” Releford said. “It’s a lot better.”

Return the picture, please: KU sophomore forward Justin Wesley lost his wallet on Saturday night. In the wallet was a much-cherished picture of his dad, Isiah, who died when Wesley was 4-years-old.

Wesley’s mom, Charlene Taylor-Mask, says she and her son would like for the person who found the wallet to at least return the picture. Wesley has a mailbox in the KU men’s basketball office.

“It was an old picture, black and white of his dad in a basketball uniform when he played in high school,” Taylor-Mask said. “Justin’s dad’s brother came to the Texas game in Austin and gave Justin the picture. We can buy another wallet. We can cancel the credit cards, but the picture ... it would mean a lot to get that back,” she added.

Jeff Withey on winning the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award: “Coach Self challenged me to be the top shot-blocker in the league. That was my goal, and I am definitely happy to be able to get that award,” he said.

Self noted: “Certainly he deserves that, I don’t know if anybody in our league blocks or alters as many shots as he does. For the most part, Jeff has been consistent for the whole year on the defensive end. He has been a presence the whole year. One reason Thomas (Robinson) has had such a great year is because Jeff guards the other team’s best post player. Jeff has been great for us, he has had a terrific year.”

Wangmene out for season: Texas senior forward Alexis Wangmene will miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken left wrist in Saturday’s loss at KU. The 6-7 Wangmene, who averaged 4.7 points and 4.8 rebounds, fell on his left hand when he braced himself for a fall after pursuing a defensive rebound. Wangmene is an adopted son of former KU assistant coach R.C. Buford, GM of the San Antonio Spurs.

Up next: KU will meet Oklahoma or Texas A&M; at 2 p.m., Thursday, in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal in Sprint Center. A victory would push KU into a semifinal meeting with Kansas State or Baylor at 6:30 p.m., Friday. The title game is 5 p.m., Saturday.

Self was asked Monday what it would be like to play Missouri in the final. The two split games in the regular season.

“It’d be great because that means we’ve won two games so that would be absolutely fantastic. It would be absolutely fantastic to play Texas or Iowa State or anybody else. It doesn’t make any difference because it would mean we won two games,” Self said.

Redbirds fall: Former KU assistant Tim Jankovich’s Illinois State team fell to Creighton in overtime in the finals of the Missouri Valley tournament on Sunday in St. Louis. “They played great. Tim should really be proud of his guys,” Self said.

Tournament seeding: Self was asked if the Jayhawks need to win a certain number of games at the Big 12 tournament to land a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs: “To me, obviously Kentucky and Syracuse are No. 1 seeds no matter what. Then you’d almost have to say, if nothing really strange happens, one from the ACC, and North Carolina was so good the other night (against Duke), but I don’t know if there’s two from the ACC.

“The Big 10 has gotten a little bit sideways because of the three-way tie for first, so maybe the one that wins the league there — Ohio State or Michigan State are certainly still in the running — and then us and Missouri are still in the running. I still think one of us (KU, Mizzou) still has a great shot at being a No. 1 seed regardless of how the other leagues do, because I think our league is good enough that we warrant that.”

Running for President means 40% the country immediately thinks you're the Antichrist. Literally. Regardless of political party or policy stances. So I'd stick to basketball if I were him, so a smaller portion of college basketball fans can irrationally hate him simply for being insanely successful.

"I still think Kansas City is more of a K-State, KU town than it is a Missouri town" - great quote by Self which perfectly sums up why he's not going to schedule MU anytime soon. MU's forfeited the KC media and recruiting market, why let them back in? Basic business strategy. And yes, he was saying that about KSU to be nice.

Between The Lines pulled alumni numbers in the full metro area, which includes two counties in Kansas (Johnson and Wyandotte) and three counties in Missourah (Jackson, and two others--maybe Clay and Platte?).

The total of Kansas + Kansas State alums was something like 123,000.

Missouri alums? 23,000

They also did a breakdown, and I seem to remember KU alone having 88,000 alums in the five-county area, which would leave KSU with 35,000, half again as much as Missouri.

MU fans can deny it all they want. Kansas City has always been and will always be a KANSAS college sports town. At least with regards to basketball.

Nebraska basketball is regretting leaving the Big XII. No fan enthusiasm for extended trips to Ohio and Michigan. They now want to play Kansas again and get some excitement back into the program. Exactly the reason Missouri wants to keep the rivalry going. Missouri basketball is headed south in more ways than one. Missouri and Nebraska will be annual bottom feeders in their conferences for years to come.

I think Muck Fizzou will do better in SEC basketball than Nebraska in the Big 10. SEC hoops are a tad weak....Kentucky and some pretenders. I do think Football will be a struggle, which is what drove the realignment. No wonder Pinkel got a dui...I'd be drinking too if I had to be playing Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, etc etc.

I would not agree, Fizzou has one good team about every 3 to 4 years. The majority of the time they are average at best. Look at the win losses in the past 8 years. Average at best. They will fit right in with their confederate playmates.

I've been one to question whether that may have had something to do with his defensive decline of late. Perhaps wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt more than anything else. But I did see Self say that in the press conference, so like you said - no excuses. Time to get back to being a lock-down defender. We have to have that from him.

I look at Trav, who I think is the best perimeter defender we have, when healthy, and see a player who has lost a lot of lateral quickness, because of this injury. Taking the boot off has restored his marvelous straight line acceleration and his hops, but he seems a long way from okay to me laterally. Its very tough to really rehab an ankle, when you have to keep playing on it, and he had ankle problem last season, too. What they are claiming is he manifested what appeared as the early stage of a stress reaction. So: his slow to restore lateral agility and fast to restore straight line performance makes sense. Wearing the boot apparently weakened certain ligaments, tendons and muscles. A critical question is: is this the same ankle he severely sprained last season? If it were, that could explain why, after several weeks of no boot, and tons of therapy, his lateral agility appears slow to restore. Frankly, he appeared to me to be defending better laterally with the boot on.

Regarding Self and him saying all is well, we know from past experience they mask this way sometimes (e.g., Self and Sherron said all was well with Sherron, long after it was apparent Sherron was never going to recover his full explosiveness from early in his career.

Why mask this way?

Because it can perhaps discourage opponents from scheming heavily on exploiting an injury limited player, I suppose.

But if Travis is well, then we are in for some real treats, because at his best he is a superb defender with as much defensive heart as anyone I've seen, since RussRob.

I was saying he was pretty bad on D after the Mizery game, and I got blasted for saying it. Later Jesse Newell says he's in a defensive slump, and finally you had Coach Self calling out Travis a couple of press conferences ago.

After flashing back and forth to the flopping game between N. Carolina and Duke last Saturday, I'd say the same should be called in college games. Even the announcers commented on the number of charges being called during that game.

I know the championship game will be, but does anyone know which, if any, of the other Big 12 tourney games will be on TV?

The NC - Duke game preceded the KU -Texas game. In fact, it was on the same ESPN channel. I remember, because NC was so far ahead of Duke that I knew the game wouldn't run over and cut into the KU - Texas game.

I'd never miss a televised KU game. In fact I record each Jayhawk game so I can rewatch them again and again.

Maybe I should explain. I was flashing back and forth between the Duke - NC game and whatever else was on. I just couldn't stand listening for two hours to Dukie Vitale mush over his two favorite teams. And I thought ESPN might show something relating to the upcoming KU during the broadcast.

While I'm being honest; for some reason I don't find myself caring as much about the Big XII tourney this year. We've got the regular season title, and Id love a decent NCAA tourney run, not that you can't do well in both. It'll still be exciting with a potential KU/Mizzou rematch and plenty of other dangerous teams such as Iowa State or Baylor. Just saying, I wouldn't be devastated if we underperformed here and had a surge in the NCAA. This isn't considering bracketology, however (too late).

Actually on 810 in KC yesterday they did research as far as graduates of each local university that lives in the greater KC area and they gave these statistics:

KU- close to 90,000 graduates
KSU- close to 45,000 graduates
Mizzou- close to 23,000 graduates

So from that standpoint...KU and KSU combined have almost 5 times the alumni in the greater KC area than Mizzou. I knew KU had a lot but always assumed Mizzou was a close second but these numbers are telling because KSU has twice as many alumni in KC than Mizzou.

The key word here is "graduates'. To be an "alumnus" means you have actually graduated. No doubt there are many more Mizzery fans out there who couldn't do that, even from a school like Methzzouri. So it makes me wonder how they might fare if vocational schools and community colleges were included in those figures above. LOL .......... Mizzery = TFI (Inside joke)

Mizzery has gained notoriety having played basketball against KU over the years. Have they gained any playing Texas, or Oklahoma? How many non-Jayhawk fans keep track of KU's wins and losses each season hoping KU will lose every outing, whether KU is ranked or not? Probably quite a few. In the same context, do we, as Jayhawk fans, watch how Duke or N. Carolina fare? Unless they are ranked, how many non-MU fans pay close attention, or even care, whether MU wins, loses or even plays a basketball game? MU needs that notoriety. KU does not!

I would imagine it's sort of like hanging around places where important or well known people congregate. Why do people visit Hollywood? In hopes of catching a glimpse of, or actually meeting a movie star.

Rubbing elbows with the "elite" gives one a sense of being, in an odd way, even a sense of power.

How often have you heard someone say that they have met such and such person (say - President Obama or Raquel Welch)? They are bragging. I have, but you have not met them. "We" played KU, but you haven't

MU needs basketball games against KU, its perennial nemesis, to gain some recognition. KU needs no one, because the Jayhawks already are among the basketball "elite".

Kietzman brought it up yesterday on 810, and KSU has 50% more grads in the 5-county KC metro area than Missouri. Kansas, of course, dwarfs both schools. Combined, KSU and KU grads outnumber Mizzou grads in KC by a 6-1 margin.

When KSU played UMKC in the early 90's at Municpal, there was always about 9-10 thousand attendance to which only around 1500 plus were accountable to UMKC. Neb always had good #'s at their games as well, yet not quite that good.

I think the simple answer is for the state of Kansas to annex KC, MO. The state of Missouri hasn't shown much interest in KC, so it should be a simple transaction. Of course, we'd have to take on that school district, but on the upside, we'd get the Plaza and the Sprint Center.

I live in Omaha, and Omaha annexes very judiciously. There's a lesson to be learned from it...just take the stuff you want and leave the rest for the others, kind of like the government did when they were setting aside reservations!

To quote a movie title: "Oh, God!" Annexation would start another "Border War", and I don't mean on the basketball court. Can you imagine how much tax revenue Missouri would lose if that were to happen? They'd have to legalize their meth labs to meet their state budget requirements.

Make it seem legal. To annex all of Kansas City onto the Kansas side of the river - Just dig a trench around the eastern side of Kansas City..

The whole point of moving the women's tournament was to have it in a seperate city from the men's tournament so that both of them would be in top notch facilities. Having the women play in a subpar arena in KC just to keep it with the Men's tourney was a disservice to the women.

Oklahoma City actually does a great job of hosting the Big 12 Tournament, and the games are well-attended. Dallas on the other hand, the venue is top-notch, however not many people care about college hoops down here. Maybe Omaha gets their turn next?

You need to have two fairly large arenas nearby for the fans to have both location within walking distance. Dallas has lost Reunion Arena which was the host arena to the Women's games. OKC has Ford and Cox close enough to each other. KC has Sprint and Muncipal. Tulsa might be a choice too. They have BOK Arena and Tulsa Convention Center within a mile of each other.

Good point regarding having decent-sized arenas near each other, though I think the bigger issue for Dallas is fan apathy. If you attended the games the few times the Big 12 Tournament was held in Dallas, you likely remember that the only ones that were well-attended were the championship games. The early-round and even semi-final games had lots of empty seats. Scalpers in the West End had trouble getting rid of tickets well below face value. If there were as much fan interest in the DFW area as there is in KC or OKC, they could find another arena nearby (e.g. SMU’s Moody Coliseum) for the women’s games.

If there was any kind of fan interest in Dallas, I guarantee Jerry Jones would step up and have the men's tournament at Cowboy's stadium. San Antonio would be a intriguing option for the Big 12 tournament as well and I imagine it would draw fairly well because of all the attractions there and would be cheaper than traveling to the NCAA tournament.

SAT would be a good location too. Men could play at AT&T and Women could play at Freeman Coliseum. Both venues are close enough to walk back and forth. I don't know about hotel space on that side of town but shuttles from downtown would work.

They would have to work around the Spurs' schedule. But, RC Bufurd the Spurs GM is a Jayhawk whose son (Chase) played at KU until last year and was a Grad Asst on Larry's '88 Championship team.

There was talk several years ago that Omaha would be contending for entry in the rotation of the Big 12 Tournament with their relatively new arena, the CenturyLink Center. To lonestar's point, the women's games could be played in the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

Probably not a likely scenario though, now that NU left for the Big 10.

Well if we rename the conference to I-35 conference...we could use Intrust Bank in Wichita; it is in the middle of the conference. That would be in Kansas close to KU, KSU, OSU, and OU. Don't forget how far it is for ISU and in the future WVU.

Wichita built Intrust with the hopes of getting into the NCAA tournament rotation but was denied because they don't have the hotel capacity to for it supposedly. If that is the case, there's no way Wichita could handle the Big 12 tournament. For the NCAA tournament you need accommodations for 4 teams and their fans, but for the Big 12 tournament, you need accommodations for 10 or 20 teams and one day 12 or 24 teams and those fans. Until Wichita builds more hotels and motels, they won't get serious consideration for being in the Big 12 tournament rotation.

Historically, and I think it has been reiterated, the seeding is not effected by conference tournaments, except maybe a first round lost. There are scenarios where they would get teams in/out, but not affect the seeding. The committee has always said it does not want to devalue the regular season. In so doing, I think the 4 #1 seeds are set. The big question is whether Kentucky will take the South or the Midwest. If they get the South, we get the Midwest and UNC heads west. The more likely scenario is Kentucky takes the MidWest, UNC gets the South and we head West.

All I know and I've said it many times, MU will get a #4 seed. They have a horrible RPI (and that is what the committee has used for seeding). Also, OU is the representative for the Big XII (no rep from the SEC this year). OU may have a medlam with OSU, but don't think they don't remember that OSU was voted #4 by MU in the BCS, helping to aid the SEC, and not the Big XII. MU will probably have to travel as well. OU is not going to do any favors for MU.

Um, as much as I hate to say it, there is no way the committee lowers a top 10 team to a 4 seed. Missouri will be a 2 out west after playing in the pod seeding in Omaha. Not to mention, there is no OU representative on the selection committee this year, rather Dan Beebe is in the middle of serving his 5 year term (see link below).

The only thing I agree with you is the fact that the committee doesn't give as much weight to top seeds losing games in the conference tourney and that it usually only helps/hurts bubble teams. Based on every projection from multiple sites, KU is currently the 1 seed in St. Louis, and Kentucky is in Atlanta, leaving UNC or Dook or some Big 10(12) school to take the Phoenix bracket. I just can't see it changing that much unless one of the teams fighting for a 1 seed totally falls flat in the conference tourney or suffers a huge injury (knock on wood).

Sorry, Dan Beebe, who basically lost his job when Missouri decided to bolt. I'm no expert, but that actually might be worse for Missouri.

I still think that when the Big Ten says we want OSU, Michigan, and MSU as 2 seeds, Dan is going to say okay. There is no way he will do any favors for Missouri. In addition, Georgetown and Marquette will see some love from him, before Missouri does.

I still am guessing a #4 seed, but since some of the teams lost I could see a #3 seed. All I am saying is that politics come into play and Missouri hasn't been playing politics very well lately.

Also, Dan will probably trade a seed for Missouri to get Texas into the field (although Dan might not be too happy with Texas right now as well).

1) Keep believing that--they might not be in the room when the final number is granted, but they are in the room through the process itself.
2) Dan Beebe doesn't belong to the Big XII anymore, so he can be in the room.
3) Usually the bias is helping the teams, in this case it would be hurting that team.

Bill Self offered very classy, very gracious comments regarding the sharing of Big 12 COY. His public demeanor is diametrical to a Jim Boeheim, who, for the second time this season, has stuffed a kingsize foot in his mouth when speaking to the press about scandals in his program.

Boeheim seems yet another example of a dick-personality well concealed for many years by Boeheim coming increasingly unmasked as he ages and cares less about what people think. There have long been signs of it. The last time Syrexcuse played KU he was ungracious. It gets worse year by year with these folks. Calhoun is steadily self-exposing. Knight did too, finally. Few can hide what is inside forever.

ESPN offices are loaded with Excuse alums. I remember the 07-08 tournament where the lead story for days was the inequity of Cuse being short-sheeted by the selection committee. Whiny Jim had days of exposure with bad Gilbert Gottfried impersonations. The ESPN crowd was pontificating about the need to revamp the selection process. Excuse made an early exit in the NIT and next year the universe self-corrected when Cuse got a #3 seeding. (And delightfully got pounded by Oklahoma)

Unfortunately, the NCAA doesn't allow wins by omission. And KU would gain nothing from it.

If Serious Excuse were to be stripped of the title, it would just be a can of worms left exposed to scrutiny: An empty title with no final resolution. An unexploded shell in the numerous wars of sports history.

Jankovich's Redbirds were the recipients of some extremely favorable calls and non-calls, I'm not terribly proud of them, especially not after their center was ejected for receiving two technicals. I was ScottTrade Center watching the refs blow the MVC Tournament semifinal.

Probably hasn't had enough success to make the jump to blue-blood major quite yet. Has he led the Redbirds to the NCAA tournament? Nope, and this was year 5 of his tenure. I hope he eventually gets a shot at a BCS school, and we'll go from there.

Big 10 country...well Purdue looks set with Painter. Ditto for Wisconsin and Bo Ryan. Not sure if Nebraska is going to be anxious to hire another defensive minded Okie baller disciple like Sadler. We know Bruce Webber is on the hot seat, that might be a good fit for him. Northwestern might be another, especially if they fail to make the tournament AGAIN.

Self gave Withey some pretty high praise, saying Jeff guarded the opposing team's best scoring big. God lord! What will Withey do offensively, next season, if Self can find someone else to guard the opponent's top scoring big? Also, what will happen if Jeff can add enough upper body strength to come away with a 5050 rebound?

The thing is, though, TRob and Jeff made each other better in the fullest sense of the cliche.

It really can't be put into words just how much Jeff Withey has exceeded everyone's expectations this year (except maybe D. Manning's). Incredible! I hope upon hopes that he will return for his senior season (get your hands off him, NBA!!!).

Gee whelikers, JayHok! Having that sad faced yellow and black moniker (They sure got the colors right.) jump out at you all of a sudden is enough to scare the s*** out of you. Don't know whether to thank you for the link, or not. :-}

If someone does not return Justin's pic, they may as well have their mail forwarded to hell, because that's where they will wind up. And if I wind up there, too, as some have suggested I may, then they will have not just to deal with the devil, but an angry jaybate, also. :-)

Back around the start of conference play i realized this was one of my favorite jayhawk teams ever. One reason: they start all juniors and seniors.

I understand kids wanting to leave school early and make many dollars. However, from a fan's selfish perspective, seeing kids grow up and improve year by year, is gratifying beyond simply wanting them to stay so you can root for the best team possible.

By the way, if you haven't ever read the comments below a KC Star article about KU/MU, get your daily chuckle and check em out. It's like a sack of doorknobs debating phonebook,

On another note, if anyone is looking for a cool desktop picture check out Jaybate's paintography "Last Home Game" in the fan blog section. It's a classic. The sorrow in Tyshawns face, the setting sun, it's a keeper.

It shows the size of the alumni in cities throughout the country. Greater KC has 56K degreed alums and 85K total alums. Apparently you can be an alum without a degree.

It is interesting to look at other cities with large concentrations of KU alums. What is impressive is the wide geographic distribution with large chapter on the East Coast, in Texas, in the midwest (Chicago is largest outside of KC and the state of Kansas), the Rocky Mountain area and the West Coast. No large chapters in the South like Atlanta, Charlotte or anywhere in Florida. We are obviously not a good fit in the SEC!!

We are "the" Free State. That's why MethU belongs in the SEC (Society of Ex-Confederates). They are just going back to their roots. I won't miss them and they will soon be forgotten along with Nebraska and Colorado.

Unless you know your ancestry (and you might), you could be well the ones with the roots. Most people in KS had ancestors who lived in MO before the Civil War. We know which side most of them favored. Most families came to MO from KY or VA prior to that.

I'm content to hate Missouri just because they bite, dare to think they are anywhere near us in basketball, and the Antlers are the lowest form of basketball "fan" life.

The Civil War stuff was primarily brought on by Don Fambrough in the last 10 years. Ironically, he was a Texan and extremely likely to have Confederate-sympathetic ancestry. They let Quantrill hide in Texas after he decided he would probably be killed for the attack on Lawrence and fled. They destroyed Baxter Springs, KS on the way south. If it is any consolation, Texas history doesn't speak too fondly of Quantrill, either. He and his men were suspected to have stolen things in N. Texas.

Why do you think people moved to Kansas from Slave states? If they believed in slavery they would stay in slave state and not move to a free state. Their "roots" may be from a slave state but they left it because of what it stands for and didn't want to part of it. Those who stayed obviously supported it or didn't oppose it and many even fougt and died for Slavery. Something to be proud of ??

No, when the word ends in s, simply attaching the apostrophe makes it possessive. Kansas' City is correct – and since Confederate General Sterling Price got his butt kicked out of Westport by the Kansas militia and the "Army of the Border" – I'd say our state has every right to it.

Am I the only one here that thinks it might be better for KU to NOT get a No. 1 seed in the tourney? I know that, in theory, the 1 seed has an "easier" path to the championship game, but it seems like the 1 seed carries so many expectations and added pressure. I would almost prefer a 2 seed for this year's squad.

Then again, we are Kansas, so we'll get everyone's best shot regardless of what seed we end up. And it's not like this squad has had much trouble exceeding expectations.

I agree with you. Our track record as a number one seed is not that great. And the networks focus alot on the number one seeds almost hoping for an upset in the earlier rounds. I wouldn't mind being a #2 seed and meet up with one of the lower #1 seeds in the Elite 8.

One problem being a #1 seed is in the second round, you have no benefit playing a team that pulled an upset in the first round. 10 seeds beat 7 seeds all the time. With 8 vs 9, the teams are about the same.

True, but the '07-'08 team was loaded and poised to win it all. We had the deepest bench in the country that year and a solid 8-man rotation. Each night a different player stepped up to lead the team to victory (including the bench players).

This season we have about 4 big contributors (TT, TRob, Withey & Releford [defensively]) and 4 role players (EJ, KY, Wesley & Teahen). TT and TRob both have to step up every game for KU to get a victory.

Also, remember last year when we were a #1 seed and had an early exit from the tourney? I would argue that the #1 seed added a lot of pressure on last year's squad, which, if you remember, had the best record in the country and was picked by many to win it all.

A #1 seed may benefit this team. I'm not saying it won't. But I would almost prefer to go into the tourney "under the radar" as a #2 seed for once. In fact, that was something I was looking forward to at the beginning of this season. Sometimes it's good to play the "underdog" role.

I hope your rant reduced some of your stress. If the tournament is not played in KC, the other options are OKC or Dallas. I can't imagine any KU or K-State fan would prefer either of those locations over KC. The tournament will never be played in the 15.000 seat arena they have in Wichita.

As a resident of Oklahoma (Tulsa), I have watched the attendance at OU and OSU basketball games continue to deteriorate with the NBA Thunder invasion. True, it would help if either or both had winning teams. The place to be and be seen in the OKC area is at a Thunder game. Therefore, I would question how well the tournament would now draw in Oklahoma City. I think sooner or later the Big 12 will have to politically re-visit Dallas and OKC. But regardless of the MU defection (am I the only one who thinks they are having private second thoughts?), I think KC will continue to draw better for the Big 12 tourney than the other two cities. The big caveat to that conclusion weighs on the Thunder continuing to have a contender, and either OU, OSU, and/or TCU becoming competitive in basketball. For now, I would keep it right in KC unless a dip in attendance begins to occur. KU, KSU, and Iowa State fans, with the smattering of the other schools, will continue to sell out the Sprint Center.

as far as the seedings go, it doesn't really matter to me. You still have to play your best. I just hope we stay in the Midwest region.If I remember correctly, we were the #1 seed out West in 2007 and UCLA was #2. We lost, so it didn't do us a whole lot of good then.

Missouri, as a state, is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

How did this state produce such all-time greats such as Phog Allen and Mark Twain....

....and yet give us such scum-of-the-earth as Rush Limbaugh, James Earl Ray, William Quantrill and Sterling Price?

As much as they've done to alienate the Big XII and Kansas City, I only hope KC can make its case as a tourney town in the future. It's a KU-KSU town more than a MU town.....let's keep the tournament here! It's not a Misery town.

p>ESPN.com on their NCAA BB page and POY blog is running a "Wooden Watch" public poll. This poll could be significant, since the regular season has ended and the writers are making their final decision from the 15 players nominated. Any small thing could sway them one way or the other.

I'll mention that on this side of the state (StL), its Mizzou, Mizzou, and more Mizzou. While there is a small Illinois and St. Louis University presence, its just that... small.

And the press here are likely almost all Mizzou grads, which tips the scales even further in the coverage department. Unless Illinois is doing GREAT in hoops or football (which isnt that often -- Final Four a few years ago and the Rose Bow as well) Illinois hardly gets covered at all.

The Alumni presence amongst the 3 is probably more evenly split than the coverage is, but make no mistake about it... if the SEC ever does have hoops tournament (or some other) tournament -- already talk about trying to have the SEC baseball tourney at Busch Stadium -- in Missouri, it'll be in St. Louis, not KC.

I've lived in KC right after school, and I always felt like KC was clearly "pro" KU, but it was also "pro" Big 8(12) schools. I remember lots of OSU and Neb guys as well as Iowa St (and Iowa for that matter) as well. Im a small sample of course, but whenever I was out and about or even hanging around there, it was almost always "mixed" company in regards to that stuff.

Regardless, count me in with the 86% of KU folks who have no interest in playing these guys. Living around them is bad enough as is. Putting up with them is enough to take it out of most mortals. Ugh.

This thread has come apart more than my five-year-old underware in the back of the drawer--referred to as "weekenders."

Kansas City (thank you coach) makes sense for West Virginia, Iowa-State, Kansas-State, and us. Now, if the Big 12 would listen to the remainder of my pro-West Virginia rants, they would have also added Cincinnati, and Lousiville. And now that the conference has just plucked 24.8 mil from the rebs to the east and south, we can give each 10 mil to get the heck out of Dodge and restore this conference to six north and six south. Then, coach wouldn't have to defend KC because it would be (duh) self-evident. I feel better now.

And since the local staff doesn't have the time to read the Wichita Eagle, Seattle Times, or Portland Oregonian, here's the latest on four of our recruits (3-2012, 1-2113.) Anrio Adams just helped Ranier Beach win a state championship in 3A (4 classes.) He was in foul trouble during the last two games and didn't contribute much. Still, he's running a distant third for player of the year, and I don't think my vote helped much. Realizing most of you are Kansans, you already know that both Perry and Connor are in the quarterfinals tomorrow and, if they both win, they'll square off again. Landen Lucas had a great quarterfinal with 32 big ones, but he was surrounded in the semis (ala T-Rob before Jeff blossemed) and was held to 13 and they fell in the 6A semis. He, too, had a great year.
As another poster noted, you should expect Adams, Lucas, and Peters to rise in the 2012 final rankings (where Adams and Lucas aren't currently ranked, anyway.) I feel less retired now.